Textile from Bengal: A Shared Legacy, Sonia Ashmore, Tirthankar Roy and Niaz Zaman
Textiles from Bengal offers a compelling exploration of Bengal’s rich textile tradition—spanning cotton muslins, fine jamdani weaves, kantha embroidery, and printed fabrics. Through carefully curated imagery and contextual essays, the volume unpacks how Bengali textiles combine regional craftsmanship with transnational exchange, reflecting centuries of merchant networks and evolving aesthetic sensibilities. Investigating everything from subtle jamdani motifs to bold folk patterns, the book reveals cloth as a living archive of social, spiritual, and aesthetic practice.
Designed to bridge scholarship and visual expediency, the book balances close-up detail shots with portraits of weaving communities—showing how dyes, tools, and motifs pass through generations. Its narrative honours both the technical ingenuity behind each weave and the cultural contexts that keep traditions alive—from everyday wear to ceremonial finery. In doing so, Textiles from Bengal becomes both a visual reference and a celebration of textile heritage rooted in place, technique, and human hand.
About the Author
Sonia Ashmore is a London-based design historian, writer, and lecturer with a particular interest in South Asian textiles. During her time as a Research Fellow at the Victoria and Albert Museum, she explored the museum’s extensive South Asian textile holdings and authored Muslin (2012), a detailed study of the iconic fabric.
Tirthankar Roy, Professor of Economic History at the London School of Economics, specialises in South Asian development, global history, empire, and environmental change. His recent publications include Crafts and Capitalism: Handloom Weaving Industry in Colonial India and Monsoon Economies: Indian History in a Changing Climate.
Niaz Zaman is a retired professor formerly of the University of Dhaka and most recently served as Advisor in English and Modern Languages at Independent University, Bangladesh. She is a noted authority on kantha embroidery, having published the pioneering The Art of Kantha Embroidery, as well as A Descriptive Catalogue of Textile Objects in the Bangladesh National Museum.
Publication date: 2022
Publisher: Mapin Publications
Pages: 360
ISBN: 9789394501263
Dimensions: 25.4 x 3.05 x 27.94 cm
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Description
Textiles from Bengal offers a compelling exploration of Bengal’s rich textile tradition—spanning cotton muslins, fine jamdani weaves, kantha embroidery, and printed fabrics. Through carefully curated imagery and contextual essays, the volume unpacks how Bengali textiles combine regional craftsmanship with transnational exchange, reflecting centuries of merchant networks and evolving aesthetic sensibilities. Investigating everything from subtle jamdani motifs to bold folk patterns, the book reveals cloth as a living archive of social, spiritual, and aesthetic practice.
Designed to bridge scholarship and visual expediency, the book balances close-up detail shots with portraits of weaving communities—showing how dyes, tools, and motifs pass through generations. Its narrative honours both the technical ingenuity behind each weave and the cultural contexts that keep traditions alive—from everyday wear to ceremonial finery. In doing so, Textiles from Bengal becomes both a visual reference and a celebration of textile heritage rooted in place, technique, and human hand.
About the Author
Sonia Ashmore is a London-based design historian, writer, and lecturer with a particular interest in South Asian textiles. During her time as a Research Fellow at the Victoria and Albert Museum, she explored the museum’s extensive South Asian textile holdings and authored Muslin (2012), a detailed study of the iconic fabric.
Tirthankar Roy, Professor of Economic History at the London School of Economics, specialises in South Asian development, global history, empire, and environmental change. His recent publications include Crafts and Capitalism: Handloom Weaving Industry in Colonial India and Monsoon Economies: Indian History in a Changing Climate.
Niaz Zaman is a retired professor formerly of the University of Dhaka and most recently served as Advisor in English and Modern Languages at Independent University, Bangladesh. She is a noted authority on kantha embroidery, having published the pioneering The Art of Kantha Embroidery, as well as A Descriptive Catalogue of Textile Objects in the Bangladesh National Museum.
Publication date: 2022
Publisher: Mapin Publications
Pages: 360
ISBN: 9789394501263
Dimensions: 25.4 x 3.05 x 27.94 cm
